Watching Casablanca yet again, it’s easy for me to see why this 1942 black and white film remains a Hollywood classic. One by one, the main characters discover how selfless love triumphs over tyranny in its many forms—selfishness, self-indulgence, self-justification.
In a pivotal scene, the locals in a crowded café endure the nationalistic singing by a group of foreign soldiers. Breaking away from a personal effort to win safe passage to another country for himself and his wife, a man steps up to lead the band and tells them to play an anthem of freedom while he sings it. His courage emboldens everyone else to stand and sing in solidarity with him, and they soon drown out the soldiers.
Three enduring lessons emerge. Courage is the natural byproduct of unselfed love. Putting a collective cause higher than one’s own needs is heroic. And out of small acts come far-reaching victories.
